Did Christians Steal Saturnalia?

Debunking a Common Myth About Christmas

Dec 12, 2023

Christians did not replace Saturnalia with Christmas.

Here's the evidence (and why it matters that they didn't):

Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25th December?

Firstly, we need to ask why we celebrate Christmas on 25th December. Scholars have come up with two theories. Let's look at each in turn:

1. Roman Hypothesis

You have probably heard that the Romans celebrated Saturnalia at the Winter Equinox. It was a time of utter debauchery:

Gladiator fights
Gambling
Drunkenness

What has this to do with Christmas you might ask? Well, a theory that became popular in the 18th-19th Century was that Christians chose to create their own festival to rival this.

Christians definitely did replace pagan festivals later in history. Later in history, Pope Gregory the Great advised a missionary to take over pagan festivals and temples.

The problem is there's no evidence they did this so early. The first mention of the link between the festivals of Saturnalia and Christmas is in a 12th-century Bible commentary (100s of years later).

Another problem for the Roman hypothesis is that Augustine, mentions the Donatists kept Christmas on the 25th. The Donatists were an ultra-conservative group. They were determined never to capitulate to Roman culture after a period of persecution. Of all people, they were the least likely to take over the most Roman of Roman festivals.

But if December 25th didn’t come from Saturnalia, where does it come from?

As is often the case, when you are looking for the roots of Christianity you should look to Judaism…

2. Jewish Hypothesis

To get to the Jewish roots of Christmas, we instead need to look at Easter. Early Christians didn’t celebrate Christmas, but they did celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection.

That's because Jesus died at Passover. This led to a popular date of Jesus' death: 25th March.

So what?

Well, Jews often believed that salvation events began and ended on the same day. This was incorporated into the idea of Jesus' death. Christians came to believe Jesus was conceived and died on the same day: 25th March

If Christ was conceived on 25th March, then 9 months later his birth must have been on 25th December.

(Interestingly, with a different date for Good Friday of the 6th of April, many Eastern churches celebrated his birth on the 6th of January the same logic in play)

Significance of Jewish Roots of Christmas

Does it even matter?

On one level no. If the shepherds were out in the night-time, it's unlikely Jesus was born in midwinter.

But, this does raise some important issues:

1. Christianity is not a Roman spin-off

The Roman hypothesis became popular in the Comparative Religions movement which often sought to merge religious thought.

This idea chimed with their view of the world. Christianity was just an update of Roman religion nothing more.

But this will simply not hold up. As authors like Tom Holland and Glen Scrivener have shown recently, Christianity was a huge change from the Roman religion.

Far from seeking to Christianise the debauchery of Saturnalia, Christians were bringing something very different.

2. Christian roots are Jewish

It's a good principle to look first for the roots in Old Testament Judaism, not Roman paganism.

Christians were highly influenced by Jewish thought, much more than Roman.

Christmas wasn't a replacement for Saturnalia. It was a fulfilment of an Old Testament type. Jewish prophecies of a suffering servant, fulfilling Passover, are what Jesus is fulfilling.

These should shape the Christmas celebrations.

3. Christmas is always in the shadow of the cross

While there's no real justification for dating Christmas from the date of Jesus' death, there is something noble in it.

Most great men are celebrated for their birth or their victories. Christ is remembered primarily for his death

Christians didn't celebrate Christmas as a day of "naughty fun". Rather, they celebrated God’s coming into the world, the fulfilment of the Passover types. A ransom for sin.

As Christians, whether we're bothered about the 25th or not, we should always see the manger in light of the cross.